Los Angeles Lakers Select New Coach, And It’s Not Phil Jackson

According to LA Times beat writer Mike Bresnahan, the Lakers signed Mike D’Antoni to a four-year deal as the team’s head coach.

Though D’Antoni’s name had popped up in speculation regarding the search for Mike Brown’s replacement, most presumed it certain that the Lakers were going to move forward with Jackson. Jackson’s demands were certain to be huge, but various sources had said the organization was willing to extend itself very far to make the situation work.

Unfortunately, it would not go to the moon for Jackson, and that is apparently what his demands required. Bresnahan wrote, “Phil Jackson was ‘asking for the moon,’ accoring [sic] to source familiar w/ the situation.”

D’Antoni, who spent several seasons as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, most recently led the New York Knicks. He resigned last season, shortly after “Linsanity” cooled off and the Knicks again began to struggle.